Yo Joe,

I was chatting to Chloe the other day (Fwambwy, I have to call you Chloe in this post so all of our many many many readers don’t get confused). I asked her if she liked apple pie. She said yes. This is why I’m writing up this pie I made the other day, so that she might make it and use up her apples.

I can’t compete with mums apple crumble but I think my apple crumble pie is very, very good. Kanhai liked it too, I think if he could, he would eat ANY variation of apple crumble for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Lil note on the crumble topping – I NEVER measure out ingredients for crumble. Its sugar, flour and butter, I really don’t think there’s much that can go wrong. I have written down measurements for the topping though, just so that the method wouldn’t say ‘make crumble’ as the only instruction.

Both the pastry and the crumble topping can be made in advance, you don’t have to make it all in one go.

Ingredients

For the flaky pastry, makes one 23cm tart shell

• 450g plain flour
• 300g unsalted butter, cold
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 150ml cold water

For the crumble topping

• 125g plain flour
• 75g sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 125g unsalted butter, cold

For the apple filling

• 910g apples, peeled, cored and chopped into chunky pieces
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Method

Start by making the pastry. The aim is to mix/handle/work the pastry as little as possible. Clumps of butter visible in the dough and some loose bits of dry floury pastry at this stage this is a good thing. Don’t be tempted to work this into a smooth ball of dough.

In a bowl toss together the flour, salt and cubed butter. Once the butter cubes are coated in flour, gently squash them between fingertips. Keep doing this, picking up clumps of butter and flour and ‘squashing’ them together, until the mixture begins to form big clumps and some of the butter is still in pea sized balls. Add in the water and mix with a fork until the mixture forms a large shaggy mass. Wrap the ball of dough in cling film and put in the fridge for at least an hour (can be over night).

When the pastry has chilled, grease a 23cm tart tin or shallow cake tin (a bit smaller or bigger is all good) with butter. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface, to about one cm thick. Roll the pastry onto the rolling pin, picking it up off the surface and roll out over the tart tin. Gently press the pastry to mould to the tin, any breaks, patch them up with a bit of the pastry dough that hangs over the edge of the tin. Don’t trim the pastry that hangs over the edge, do that when it’s out the oven. Put the lined tart tin in the fridge until ready to fill.

For the crumble topping. Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the cold butter in cubes. Gently rub the mixture together between fingertips. Keep doing this until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs, with some smaller clumps. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge until you’re ready to use it (it can be kept, covered in the fridge, for up to 5 days).

Pre heat the oven to 180 before prepping the apple filling.

Mix together all the ingredients for the apple filling – the apple filling is now made! Taking the crumble and lined tart tin out the fridge, tip the apples onto the pastry base, and top with the crumble. A bit of the mound of apple crumble in the centre always looks good. Put the pie in the fridge for a final 15 mins before baking.

Put the pie on a baking tray and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the apple is bubbling underneath. Once cooled use a knife to trim any excess pasty that hangs over the rim of the tart/cake tin. The pie is easier to cut when it has cooled for an hour ish but you don’t have to wait…

Have a good pie. (love you fwambwy) Caitlin xxx